When it comes to the customer experience, it is important to think through very carefully what will employees actually do. It is my job, as a leader, to know how to have the most engaged employees possible. No on else can do that for me.

What is measured about the customer experience, will get done. I have to make sure that I am measuring the right thing. What is the one thing that will make a difference in the customer experience? Do I know? Am I measuring it?

What is incentedwill get done. Incentives can include compensation but should not do so exclusively.

What wins are we celebrating? What I spend time celebrating with employees is important. Everyone will pay attention.

So don’t blame people, change their environment. I can do that no matter what level I am in the organization.

It is a leadership responsibility to engage employees in our customer experience obsession. We know it leads to higher levels of customer engagement and profitability. According to customer experience guru Bruce Temkin, we should consider 5 I’s.

Employees really want to be inspired with a compelling vision. While salary is important, real engagement comes from an inspired message followed up by real action.

Employees want to be involved in being part of the solution. The closer an employee is to real customer interactions, the better the insight.

The need to be informed about what we are doing to improve the customer experience is always essential. Middle management plays a huge role in this on a daily basis.

We need to create a learning environment where instruction is the norm. Improving the customer experience is a continuous process where our learning is a key.

Leadership needs to incent employees to be successful. While some of this is about compensation, there are many ways to incent employees that involve soft investments. Have we discovered what works for the members of our team of direct reports?

True employee engagement will lead us to great levels of customer engagement.

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